Typed Datasets in the Inventory System
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The Microsoft Commerce Server Inventory System uses typed datasets to improve performance. Creating or maintaining a database connection is one of the most resource-intensive activities in any application, and reducing the volume and length of connections results in improved performance. Datasets use a disconnected model for data that enables the system to interact with real-time data when there is no live database connection.
In the .NET Framework, datasets can have all their properties dynamically generated, or they can be typed as they are created. Typing provides a pre-built schema for the dataset against which data can be validated as it is inserted into the dataset. Datasets can support a full range of data integrity features, including data relationships, to ensure that all updates they perform to the actual database follow the business rules that are established in the database.
All the dataset classes that are detailed in this section can be found in the Microsoft.CommerceServer.Inventory namespace. You can access the schema information for each typed dataset by using the DataColumn class in the .NET Framework System.Data namespace. For more information about the schema included in the dataset, see the .NET Framework DataAdapter.FillSchema method.
Each dataset also has an associated schema dataset class. The schema datasets provide constants for all the built-in columns in the dataset and define all the associated methods. These methods are described in the associated dataset topics.